Keeper or not?

[Kris V]

I took this last spring, and was ready to toss it out.
After playing with it, I began to kinda like it, and when I ended up with the version below, my husband's comment was "Nice, but not very real".
It tried for a Kinkade effect - more or less.
I used a colour laser printer with textured paper, and the print may end up on the wall of fame (shame?) in my office.
C&C most welcome.

[stardelta]

kristianna, i can't see an image

[Donald]

Just a few minutes later and I'm seeing it okay.

It's good image, but I'd wonder about cropping to more like a 4:5 ratio. I'm not sure you need all of that pathway at the bottom. And cropping would move the gentleman off the halfway horizontal more down to the bottom 'thirds' horizontal.

[Geoff F]

Yes, a bit of a crop was also my first thought. And how about printing on canvas to give a really firm texture. I'm not sure what type of textured paper you tried.

[RockNGoalStar]

I like it... ...it has a sort of dreamy feel to it.

Deffo agree with Donald and Geoff about the crop though.

[Mike Buckley]

Definitely a keeper if you crop the foreground as others have mentioned. It has a nice impressionistic feel to it.

[Kris V]

. I'm not sure what type of textured paper you tried.

Just fancy writing paper that's off-white and is not perfectly smooth. Office Max has quite a few choices.

[Kris V]

I tried 2 different crops, while keeping the aspect ratio 5x7
I can't decide which one......

Trimmed on the right

Trimmed on the left

[RogerCook]

I think the first crop is the one for me.

[kdoc856]

Beautiful image, Kris. Definitely has a Kincaidian feel. I think the first top crop is preferable- the outside tree pulls my eye fron the road a bit, whereas the single tree seems to frame the scene and lead me to your subject.

[Kris V]

Thanks all for your welcome input.
I'm also partial to # 1.
I think from here on I'll leave well enough alone.

[ggt]

Hey, I like this a lot

The only thing I find distracting is all the "white dots" --where the light is shining thru. I don't know why, but I think they should just be on horizontal surfaces --like the road, tops of leaves etc. In some places, they seem to be part of the tree bark too. Is it just me?

Don't get me wrong, I think your presentation still works well. It's just the way my brain works . . .

Also, I like the larger version with the bent tree trunk on the right. Otherwise the straight tree trunk stands out too much and the rest of the right side of the pic looks like it is just standing there alone with no purpose. . . .LOL

Thanks for posting!

[Kris V]

Hey, I like this a lot

The only thing I find distracting is all the "white dots" --where the light is shining thru. I don't know why, but I think they should just be on horizontal surfaces --like the road, tops of leaves etc. In some places, they seem to be part of the tree bark too. Is it just me?

Don't get me wrong, I think your presentation still works well. It's just the way my brain works . . .

Also, I like the larger version with the bent tree trunk on the right. Otherwise the straight tree trunk stands out too much and the rest of the right side of the pic looks like it is just standing there alone with no purpose. . . .LOL

Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the feedback - I have been experimenting with blending modes in PhotoShop (That's where the "little white dots" come in).
I have been playing with this picture on and off for so long, I don't exactly remeber what I did. Blurring one layer and blending in "Lighten" mode is one of the things I remember (from a tutorial I found on-line.
FWIW: I'm a plug-in and filter junkie!